Paramount Pulls ‘Heathers’ Episodes in Wake of Pittsburgh Shooting

Paramount Network pulled multiple episodes of the Heathers TV reboot, in the wake of the tragic Pittsburgh shooting.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network aired episodes on Saturday, but dropped the Sunday night episodes — following the shooting that left 11 people dead — due to the depictions of active shooter drills.

The Monday night finale will still air as planned, though it has reportedly been heavily edited, which includes removing scenes of a school being blown up.

The series was originally pulled back in February after the Parkland school shooting in Florida. Paramount then reportedly scrapped the show altogether, after not being able to find a home for it on another network/platform such as Netflix or Freeform. Finally, after a lengthy delay, the network finally decided to air the series itself over the course of a few days.

Interestingly, the series has had positive reviews from some of the outlets who have reviewed it, with EW writing, “The Heathers reboot won’t fix what’s broken, but let’s not pretend our failed comedy is remotely as disturbing as our failed gun laws.”

In an interview with Into, series star Brendan Scannell spoke candidly about the show and his role in it, specifically addressing what he believes was the shows biggest appeal to the LBGTQ community.

“What was great about the movie was that it was these four girls who just had the best lines and the best clothes, and the movie was written by a gay man [Daniel Waters],” he stated. “So, it was four teenage girls insulting each other like gay men insult each other–there was that appeal.”

“Also, it’s a cult classic, and the LGBTQ community latches onto projects or pieces of art that other people pass over and nurture them and make them important, and Heathers became one of those,” Scannell added. “I’m hoping as people watch [the show] they realize it’s coming from a real place of love for the LGBTQ community.”

He then shared some details about the show, which revealed a lot of where the backlash against it came form.

“Interestingly, there’s an episode [about] the idea of teachers being armed. The show really lambasts that idea for how unsafe and stupid it is, and how it doesn’t make any sense,” he shared. “That’s one of the issues that I think is really pertinent. And the effects of bullying on both the psyche of the bully and the bullied are such a huge component of the show. And it’s not pretty. The show doesn’t wrap everything in a bow with a lesson, because our culture doesn’t.”

Following the finale, Heathers will reportedly be available to watch in its entirety on VOD, as well as the Paramount app and website.